Grand Ancestral Bloodlines

The moment Ryu took that step, it was as though his mind began to scream. To the very depths of his bones, it felt like every peril sense that he had was roaring out at him, telling him exactly how unwise he was being.

The fact that he had pushed his Lightning Qilin bloodline to the limit, the fact that he had taken out his Tribulation Lightning Seed, even the fact that he had pushed his Dao as far forward as he could didn't matter in the slightest.

And why should it? He was facing off against a destructive might that could smite even a Dao God off the face of existence should they not be adequately prepared, let alone himself. He was entirely unprepared for this sort of danger.

If it was all going to be so easy, then why would he have cursed the moment he got this so-called "reward"? Ryu wouldn't be surprised if at least half the things on the list were well known by many of the region, and had simply never been taken due to the danger associated with them.

Of course, this was likely an exaggeration that he had made just to vent some of his frustration. Even so, he felt that he could have made an educated guess about all of this.

'It seems like I really will have to gamble.'

Even while he was having these thoughts, Ryu was still traveling through the Abyssal Plane back to the Real Plane. It was just that in the process of doing so, the pressure that he hadn't sensed previously due to the veil of the Abyssal Plane came back in full force, pressuring him from all sides.

He wasn't even half of the way there, and the suppression should have still been more than 99%, and yet it all didn't matter in the slightest. He still felt like he was going to be crushed before he could get anywhere.

Even so, he continued forward. That was because he had already expected all of this. In the next split seconds, his life or death would be decided.

A wild grin spread across Ryu's face. This was what he had come here to do.

Almost the instant his grin appeared, it vanished, replaced by a deep, unfathomable gaze. Complex runes rotated in his eyes and his aura began to leak one step after another.

Within the inner world of his Heavenly Pupils, his soul trembled and began to consume Silver Veined Spirit Seeking Lilies.

The potency, after passing through the restriction on his pupils, was greatly weakened. However, Ryu had so many now thanks to the work of his lovely wife that he didn't care. He poured as much into himself as he could.

'An exchange of a hundred to one...'

When Ryu had this thought, he winced a bit, but it was a necessary evil. The moment he swallowed his hundredth petal, his body slipped from a State of Meditation into Breath of Earth. He swallowed another hundred after that and entered Breath of Heaven.

Ryu didn't stop until he felt like his soul was well and truly about to explode, a boundary that his Perfect Blackbody didn't sense until he had already swallowed hundreds and entered the One with Self state.

This was precisely Ryu's goal.

He had learned quite a number of this since coming to the True Martial World, the least of which was most definitely not the truth behind the Meditation States.

The first State of Meditation, then into Breath of Earth, then Breath of Heaven, followed by Breath of World, One With Self, One With Earth, One With Heaven, One With World, and finally, Breath of Quintessence.

These weren't just randomly picked out names. Names held power, even for something seemingly as simple as a State of Meditation.

The One With Self Realm, the Realm of Meditation that Ryu was hoping to reach by forcing Spirit Seeking Lilies into his body, was a transition Realm.

The State of Meditation was simply a state of calm. It removed all distracting thoughts and allowed one to focus. It could be considered a flow state, but it wasn't perfect.

The Breath stages, from Earth to World, were all used to gather up the energies of the world to bolster your mind and your comprehension. Cultivation was done through breathing and it carried a special meaning. The movement of qi was usually done through the mouth and nose before it was ultimately moved through the body, and the Breath of the world was done no different.

Even so, just like with cultivation, there would always be wins and losses. The Breath States couldn't be said to be perfect and they were highly flawed.

And then came One With Self. One With Self was a change stage, one that could help one to incorporate the Breath of the World around you perfectly, and without a single hint of loss.

This was the state that Ryu wanted to tap into because he felt that if he should do so...

The Golden Runes erupted.

Ryu found himself in a sea of blue lightning, but he couldn't see or feel them at all. Instead, his body was emboldened by its own sea of gold, one so pure and blinding that even the lightning itself was drowned out.

He was simply standing in place, but the lightning that touched upon him flashed and broke down into its constituent parts, before it was then absorbed into his body.

He could feel his Lightning Qilin Bloodline thrumming with pleasure, and the world itself seemed to be at peace.

There was nothing but tranquility in the depths of Ryu's eyes. He could see a serene charm in the world around him, and he had no other intention but to take it in.

He had entered One With Self before, but never had he felt it so clearly, and he understood why that was. One With Self only allowed one to take in 100% of the Breath that you could withstand, without any wastage.

Not everyone was created equal. And now, with his Child of Order constitution, his ability to do so was limitlessly beyond what it had once been.